# Favorite old pieces of software (not games) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059 "2021-02-02T15:34:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/1 "2021-02-02T15:34:11Z")
Guys and gals, look at what I found… 😢 [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50901925717_569aae1564_b.jpg "2021-02-02\_09-19-52") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68782016@N08/50901925717/) (If you can’t see the pic, it’s the CD-ROM shell case for Microsoft’s ‘Multimedia Beethoven: 9th Symphony’, released in 1993.) I haven’t even seen this in 15 years, but I was going through one of those boxes of stuff I kept because ‘I might want this shit one day’, and I found it, a blast from the past. When it was current I just loved Microsoft’s CD-ROM series about Classical music, especially the one on Mozart’s Dissonant Quartet and, of course, the 9th. For a couple of years there, MS did make an effort to make high-quality educational CD’s which were, in many cases, quite good! They didn’t need to do this, I’m sure it lost money, and their Encarta division slowly (as far as _this_ consumer could tell) fell by the wayside. Regardless, this series is one of my favorite pieces of old non-game software. It’s a nice consumer project done with slightly good intentions by a company who surely didn’t need to devote the time and energy to do this, and I’m glad they did. What are your favorite (non-game) pieces of software from the Days Ago? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/2 "2021-02-02T15:55:40Z")
In my first professional job after college, part of my job was managing and organizing hundreds of data files on hard drive and floppy disk. (This was in the waning days of DOS and early days of Windows.) We had a DOS utility called XTree Gold which I still have fond memories of. > **[XTree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XTree)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > XTree is a file manager program originally designed for use under DOS. It was published by Underwear Systems, later Executive Systems, Inc. (ESI) and first released on 1 April 1985, and became highly popular. The program uses a character-mode interface, which has many elements typically associated with a graphical user interface. > The program filled a required niche in the market, as DOS shipped with only a command-line file manager, until the gen... It says that there was an unsuccessful Windows version, and later clones for Windows, but I have never found a Windows file manager that could do what XTree did in DOS. @JohnT does that Beethoven CD still work? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/3 "2021-02-02T16:00:28Z")
I loved Multimedia Beethoven. It was an early example of multimedia software, when the term was still just a buzzword. In part of it, the score was shown as the music professor narrating explained what was going on in the symphony. Another program I loved was [Norton Commander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Commander), from about twenty years ago, followed by Norton Desktop. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/4 "2021-02-02T16:25:03Z")
I’m still using a copy of FTP Explorer (FTPx) I got off some “Exploring the Internet!” book & CD-ROM in 1995. So I guess that counts as a favorite. For software I no longer use but WAS a favorite, the title would have to go to (internet chat client) mIRC. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/5 "2021-02-02T16:38:08Z")
You mentioned Encarta in passing. I bought Encarta as soon as I bought my first Windows computer with a CD-ROM drive and color monitor. (Before that I had a DOS machine with a 40MB hard drive, 5.25 floppy, 3.5 floppy, and a monochrome monitor.) It was a really good product which became obsolete as soon the WWW was born. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/6 "2021-02-02T16:44:55Z")
I am definitely an “If it works, why upgrade” computer user. I use a version of Thumbs Plus from 1998. It lets me batch process, crop, and resize images really quickly and works on BMP/PNG/JPG/GIF so it does everything I need. Similarly I use a 1996 version of Paint Shop Pro, I use it for image editing tasks that Thumbs Plus can’t do. I edit website images, make banner ads, etc. I regularly use Visual Basic 6 from 2004, I know Visual Basic so well that I can quickly make a program to do a variety of tasks. And I routinely use utilities from 2005 (which is 16 years ago, how did that happen?), such as WinDirStat and head/tail (ports of Unix utils that show the beginning or end of a text file.) The main reason I don’t use even older ones like PKZIP or LIST is they are 8-bit and won’t work in 64-bit operating systems. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/7 "2021-02-02T19:02:28Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > We had a DOS utility called XTree Gold which I still have fond memories of. I remember that’n. Darn fine product, and you could do just about all you needed with it. I miss Word Perfect. Great program. There was a really cute DOS “travesty generator” that I wish I still had. TRAV.EXE It would read from an input file – say, a Shakespearean soliloquy – and you could assign the depth, in characters, of its analysis. Then it would spit out nonsense text that had a statistical, letter-by-letter, resemblance to the original. Mindless, but darn fun! Infocom made a useful home database called Cornerstone. Remarkably good program! I used it for everything. MS Access is a farting toad in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/8 "2021-02-02T19:07:39Z")
Norton Commander. For 99% of what I do, I think it would still be easier and faster than Windows. I also loved earlier CorelDraw. It was always easier and more intuitive to use than Adobe Illustrator. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/9 "2021-02-02T19:08:36Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > There was a really cute DOS “travesty generator” that I wish I still had. TRAV.EXE It would read from an input file – say, a Shakespearean soliloquy – and you could assign the depth, in characters, of its analysis. Then it would spit out nonsense text that had a statistical, letter-by-letter, resemblance to the original. Mindless, but darn fun! I guess that inspired [this.](https://verse.press/playlist/travesty-generator-1975099943243226060) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/10 "2021-02-02T19:11:56Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Similarly I use a 1996 version of Paint Shop Pro, I use it for image editing tasks that Thumbs Plus can’t do. I edit website images, make banner ads, etc. I’m still using my 1998 version of Paint Shop Pro. I don’t do anything fancy with it, but it’s a lot better than whatever gets bundled with Windows, and I don’t need to re-learn anythng. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/11 "2021-02-02T19:18:31Z")
I still use ACDsee 2.4 and Paintshop Pro 4 (both from 1997). ---
**Author:** ![cytop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@cytop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cytop)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/12 "2021-02-02T19:21:38Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > We had a DOS utility called XTree Gold which I still have fond memories of +1 for XTree for dealing with files and directories; and when it was time to get into the bits and bytes under DOS there was PCTools > **[PC Tools (software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Tools_(software))** > > PC Tools is a collection of software utilities for DOS developed by Central Point Software. > The original PC Tools package was first developed as a suite of utilities for DOS, released for retail in 1985 for $39.95. > With the introduction of version 4.0, the name was changed to PC Tools Deluxe, and the primary interface became a colorful graphical shell (previously the shell resembled PC BOSS and was monochrome.) By version 7.0 of the package in 1991 several Windows programs had been added to it.... ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/13 "2021-02-02T19:24:46Z")
I wish I could have seen Microsoft Bob in person (the Microsoft operating system that represented your computer not as a desktop but as a house with rooms seen from a first-person perspective). All I know is what I’ve read online. It looks so ridiculous it still makes me laugh. > **[Microsoft Bob](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Microsoft Bob is a Microsoft software product intended to provide a more user-friendly interface for the Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems, supplanting the Windows Program Manager. The program was released on March 11, 1995, and discontinued in early 1996. Microsoft Bob presented screens showing a "house", with "rooms" that the user could go to containing familiar objects corresponding to computer applications—for instanc... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/14 "2021-02-02T19:27:41Z")
Also loved (but don’t currently use) [Vistapro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VistaPro) in the early 1990s. And Aldus PhotoStyler and Fauve Matisse and Fractal Design Painter and Elastic Reality. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/15 "2021-02-02T19:37:04Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I miss Word Perfect. Great program. I miss that too! I loved that “Reveal Codes” feature—you could figure out exactly why your document wasn’t displaying correctly, and fix it! Of course, there’s no reason to talk about it in the past tense; it’s still available. But I can’t see going back to it now. [Darth Vader]It is too late for me.[/DV] ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/16 "2021-02-02T20:10:55Z")
I bought the CD-ROM archive of every issue of Dragon magazine (up to that point) in PDF format. I had a lot of fun reading through it over the years. Unfortunately there was some inadvertent copyright violation. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/17 "2021-02-02T20:13:31Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I bought the CD-ROM archive of every issue of Dragon magazine (up to that point) in PDF format. I had a lot of fun reading through it over the years. I have that CD-ROM, as well. My understanding is that it sells for a fair amount on the secondary market now, but I refuse to part with it. (For those who don’t recognize the name, “Dragon” is/was a magazine, published by TSR, and later by Wizards of the Coast, then Paizo, about Dungeons & Dragons.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/18 "2021-02-02T20:15:15Z")
Jensen and Wirth’s original portable Pascal Compiler. I tore it apart for my dissertation. I probably spent more time with it than any non-word processing program, and I got a PhD out of it. I also did love me the Korn shell. So many things I could do with one liners. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/19 "2021-02-02T20:19:43Z")
I still use Picasa as my primary photo management tool. I have Photoshop Elements to do fine tuning, but Picasa is the easiest quickest way for me to manage folders, make albums,collages and basic slideshows and movies. I just wish they hadn’t disabled the ability to upload directly to Google Photos. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059/20 "2021-02-02T20:23:13Z")
Anyone else use ABC Writer, the Wordperfect clone? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-old-pieces-of-software-not-games/932059.md?page=2)